South of a great bend in the Meramec River and just a mile upstream from the Shaw Nature Reserve is a pleasant little park. The initial 1,100-acre tract of Robertsville State Park in east-central Franklin County was purchased by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in 1979 as part of the state’s commitment to the Meramec River Recreation Area, a string of parks, conservation areas, and other recreational facilities along the lower Meramec and anchored by Castlewood State Park. Robertsville is at the upstream end, a mile above the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Shaw Nature Reserve.
This land was once part of a large plantation. For much of the nineteenth century, the River Hills Plantation was the home of Edward James Roberts, who came to Missouri from Virginia in 1830 at the age of fourteen. Seventeen years later, he married Ann M. Robertson of St. Louis County. On their sprawling farm of more than 3,000 acres on the rich bottomland along the Meramec, they raised horses, mules, cattle, swine, wheat, corn, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, oats, and hay. Agricultural records show that the plantation yielded 10,000 pounds of tobacco in 1850. The 1860 census indicates that Roberts held twenty-fi ve slaves. The Roberts family cemetery remains within the park, and some descendants of the plantation workers still reside in the vicinity.
Naturally, such a substantial landowner was active in civic affairs; Roberts served as a local tax collector and as an election judge, and he was also a master Mason. When the Frisco Railroad extended west from St. Louis, it established a station on his property, giving Roberts the opportunity to develop an all-purpose business listed as “Mill-StoreMoney Lending.” The station survives today as Robertsville, an unincorporated town, but the trains no longer stop. Much of his land north of the railroad remained under single ownership for years. The state bought it with the help of the Land and Water Conservation Fund from a group of investors whose plans for a resort and golf courses failed to materialize.
The Meramec River borders the tract on the north and west, while Calvey Creek forms the eastern boundary. Much of the land is situated in the floodplains, where several sloughs provide fi ne wetland habitat attractive to a variety of waterfowl. In one isolated area, some cottonwoods and other trees host nests of great blue herons. Heronries are very sensitive, so no trails intrude into this area.
As a floodplain landscape, Robertsville does not include dramatic topography, but in the central area of the park, a small hill rises about 160 feet above the surrounding lowlands. This hill represents an erosional remnant—often called a lost hill—formed by the changing courses of the Meramec River and Calvey Creek. When one stream cuts off another or occupies the channel of another, the resulting stream piracy will often leave a remnant of dissected ridge that then becomes an independent hill.
Part of the old agricultural character of Robertsville remains pleasantly reflected in the broad openings that greet the visitor at the park entrance. Vistas across gentle grassy meadows dotted with dark green cedars carry the eye to the low, wooded campground hill, and then farther to the tall hardwoods nearer the Meramec.
One way to really experience the Robertsville landscape is to explore the Spicebush Trail that traverses some of the park’s rich, lower woods. Along with the spicebush, thick, dark hanging vines of wild grapes appear almost jungle-like in places—an atmosphere that certainly goes with the heat, humidity, and insects of midsummer. Spring is beautifulwith carpets of wildflowers and a host of forest-loving birds in full song. You’ll almost surely hear the high-pitched call of the red-shouldered hawk. You’ll also see native woodpeckers in the tall timber. There’s even a good chance to see some wild turkeys slipping through the bottoms.
With more than two miles of frontage on the Meramec River, Robertsville has great access to the river for boating and fishing. It’s also the perfect spot for a waterside picnic in the shade on a summer evening. But you’ll have to experience that for yourself to know what it’s really like.
ROBERTSVILLE STATE PARK • 900 STATE PARK ROAD, ROBERTSVILLE
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